I Have Powers - Winchester Mystery House

06:23 am April 30th, 2008

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			I Have Powers - Winchester Mystery House I am the Monkey King!

chadu


	Winchester Mystery House
	I'm a fan of WMH, and have been there (back when boadiccea and I went out there for a wedding. I actually have a radical theory that Mrs. Winchester wasn't as crazy as everyone thinks. Almost all of her modifications to the house can be explained with a couple simple theses: 1. She was an old lady with arthritis and a mild paranoid streak. 2. Her hobbies were architecture and interior design. 3. She had more money than God, and could afford to a) purchase the top quality stuff she wanted from around the world, and b) pay people to work around the clock. 4. She employed a LOT of people within and without the house and farm... I wonder if it wasn't her "building the house for the ghosts" but "building the house to employ more local people than she could simply as servants or farmhands." It was probably one of the least creepy places I've ever been. It was just plain cool and had a real positive vibe to it. Tags: mad science, mumbo jumbo, trip

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	Comments

	From: banchomarba1	Date: April 30th, 2008 11:28 am (UTC)		(Link)

I am also fascinated by this house and hope to visit some day. I would agree that a lot of what she was doing there was to keep people working. I also really want to go to Coral Castle in Homestead FL. I grew up in Miami, but never got down to the castle.

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	From: archangelbeth	Date: April 30th, 2008 11:55 am (UTC)		(Link)

Oh, that's a cool notion. "If I give people work, they'll have more money and not be taking charity."

I'm gonna remember that one.

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	From: gamera_spinning	Date: April 30th, 2008 01:16 pm (UTC)		(Link)

I hadn't ever considered that either, but damn, that makes a lot of sense.

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	From: kitteblue	Date: April 30th, 2008 12:33 pm (UTC)		(Link)

What's unpositive about giving ghosts a home? If they're happy, it shouldn't be creepy.

Really, I just like the math of the place.

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	From: cmdr_zoom	Date: April 30th, 2008 12:56 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Ask

gridlore about it. He used to work for Mrs. Winchester (that's how the guides describe it).

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	From: ralphmelton	Date: April 30th, 2008 01:17 pm (UTC)		(Link)

I don't think you can rule out some wackiness.
- Several of her building choices made very little sense.
- She did care about the ghosts; her stated reasons mentioned the ghosts, and she had the seance room and had seances.
- She cared about maintaining constant work more than she cared about a quiet night's sleep.

This doesn't disprove the hypothesis that she had economic motivations, but I don't think you can dismiss the occult motivations.

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	From: sabledrake	Date: April 30th, 2008 02:21 pm (UTC)		(Link)

I love the Mystery House. You're right, it doesn't have a creepy vibe at all. Weird, yes. But not bad-weird, I always thought.

-- C.

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	From: zonemind	Date: April 30th, 2008 02:21 pm (UTC)		(Link)

There's a network of tunnels in England built by an Olde Timey magnate for similar reasons.

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	From: niwandajones	Date: April 30th, 2008 06:43 pm (UTC)		(Link)

My wife and I visited the WMH once, because I'd always wanted to and we were honeymooning in Northern California.

While we were there, the massive shopping complex they were building kitty corner to the House burned to the ground in a huge conflagration.

I may not go back. ;)

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	From: cmdr_zoom	Date: April 30th, 2008 11:25 pm (UTC)		(Link)

"For I am a JEALOUS abode, and thou shalt have no commerce before me."

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	From: debela	Date: April 30th, 2008 11:08 pm (UTC)		(Link)

She was an extremely strict employer. She paid double local wages, and expected double the quality and output.

She did have some enormously functional choices, as well, including a bell system for servants to communicate, some technology improvements to the kitchen - a drain board with a very slight tilt down *to* the sink, for example - and the cistern is nicely done. Some of the wackiness, which is quite wacky, also has a distinct sense of humor. One of the drops off which an invading spirit would fall, for example, dumped them in the kitchen sink.

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